When it comes to offering your services online, you’ll notice that education is changing just fast as technology and keeping up with these changes is crucial for staying relevant, especially in the field of virtual assistance. I’ve recently had the exclusive opportunity to work with two of the best in Social Media Strategy and Online Public Relations in a small group setting through the Get Seen Be Heard Certification Program led by Christina Daves, Best Selling Author and DIY-PR Maven and Karen Yankovich, Social Media Evangelist.

This 8-week (no fluff) program was intensive and 100% focused on cutting edge social media and PR strategies for getting our clients more publicity, more opportunities, and expanding their sphere of influence online. Have you ever heard the term “PR on Steroids?” This phrase is exactly how I would describe the program and the results of what we learned in this 8 week intensive. By the time I finished the course, I had already created several new marketing packages as a result of this training and I’m excited to announce my official completion.

If you are already a client or you are interested in working together for the first time to combine the best of social media and publicity to generate massive buzz, please send me an email (Michelle@CTVirtualAssistance.com) or complete ourContact Form and I’ll get in touch with you within one business day to set up a free one-on-one discovery consult.

There’s a lot of buzz around the word “publicity” and unlike marketing or advertising, which often come as sales pitches, good publicity often carries the power of an independent voice. Publicity includes articles in newspapers, radio and TV, on forums, blogs and social media.

Effective publicity leads to positive results and higher sales because your company can expose its products and services to a wider range of customers and ineffective publicity does the exact opposite. Though publicity isn’t something small businesses can control directly, there are traditional and nontraditional strategies that prove to be beneficial. Crafting the right pitch and hook is always essential.

If you are a business owner who is weighing the benefits of public relations and publicity, then here’s what you need to consider.

Why Is Publicity Important for Small Businesses?

It’s Virtually Free: Apart from content and media distribution costs, publicity costs are virtually free. Now business can use the internet as their first source to promote their business by sharing press releases and articles on various news sites to build authority. Read more…

As a writer, you know all too well how much work is required to complete an entire book. Once you have finished your book, you may be tempted to think that the hardest part is behind you. As many authors discover, however, the book marketing process is arduous and requires a skill set very different from the creative energy that produced your book in the first place. In particular, online book marketing demands targeted and thorough research if you want your book to have a fighting chance against the countless other titles flooding the market. Here is your guide to researching and executing your online marketing strategy.

Know Your Audience

The single most important aspect of your marketing research involves getting to know your target audience. You probably already have some idea of who your audience is; the next step is determining where your audience is on the web. As a starting point, you can check sales data from big online vendors such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The key here is to look for similar titles and determine general interest level in a book like yours. You can also do much more targeted research based on the topic of your book. Are your target readers part of an online community like Reddit, YouTube, or Yahoo? Are there any major blogs that your readers are most likely to follow? If you understand how your audience interacts on the web, you will begin to assemble a plan for how and where to market your book.

5 Reasons Why Research is Crucial for Start-ups & Customer Development

There are many businessmen and women who become alarmed when hearing that 80% of small businesses fail within the first five years of being started.

If your business is a start-up, then you know that a successful plan for business marketing has little to do with gut feeling. It is however based on sound market research. If you have already come to terms with this, then you will have a competitive advantage. Despite the fact that market research is crucial for understanding the competition, many startup ideas are focused on the business opportunities and creating successful products. If startup businesses spend more time on understanding competition on all levels: segment competition, product competition, technology competition, future competition – they will be better equipped at devising highly effective competitive action plans.

Below we will outline reasons as to why research is crucial for startups and customer development:

Poor planning: One of the major reasons as to why research is crucial for startups is poor planning. This can compromise the unplanned financial management, unplanned business administration, and unplanned marketing efforts.

Marketing yourself well: Instead of marketing your general profession, you should stay focused on your niche. For example, if you market yourself as a “Research Startup”, you are too general and not specific enough. Try marketing your idea as “On-demand Media Research for Publishers” or “DIY Market Research Platform for Small Businesses”.